Anime: My Neighbor Totoro Review

Background Info:

My Neighnor Totoro was made by The most well know Japan studio and director. The studio being Ghibli and the director being The Great Hayao Miyazaki director of Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle. Licensed by Disney and dubbed by Streamline Productions which also has done Wicked City and Mega Zone 23, which explains why the dub in Totoro sounds rough and awkward even with the cast they had.
Brief Summary:

Follow the adventures of Satsuki and her four-year-old sister Mei when they move into a new home in the countryside. To their delight they discover that their new neighbor is a mysterious forest spirit called Totoro who can be seen only through the eyes of a child. With the help of Totoro the sisters meet and see wonders that you would never believe.

Review:

I’m just going to say it My Neighbor Totoro is a whimsical masterpiece for families. When I say for family I mean for people with kids or young people and understand the importance of movies like this which doesn’t need to have a deep story or action because what makes it fun is the characters and animation. Now Totoro does have a story, kind of by that I mean it has a story like a reality show has a story. It looks at the day to day lives of these girls and there adventures in school, around there house, with Totoro & friends and what makes this a good movie for everyone is the parts with the girls sick mom. I said good for everyone because it’s dealt really well and shows kids something that could easily happen to them and it reminds the parents that kids can handle a lot more then they think they can. Now I cant talk about a Miyazaki movie without talking about the animation which is amazing and fun to watch. This was made in 1988 and it looks better then some stuff that came out 2 years ago. Scenes like the girls and Totoro growing a giant tree and the cat bus just shows what talent these people have and why Studio Ghibli is seen as one of the best in the world.

The characters are pretty much a foil for the sisters and usually I’m not fan of useless characters but the the emotion and acting coming from the sisters make you forget there are any other characters sometimes so it’s o.k.,there are no bad characters just a lot of not developed that’s all. So with all that I give My Neighnor Totoro a score of 9/10 and a must buy score, If you see animation as a art you’ll love this movie and the sisters journey is just a lot of fun to watch. If you want another ghibli movie like this check out Kiki’s Delivery Service or Ponyo.